Pretoria - The knives are out in the town of Dullstroom and it was all sparked by blue flies.
A feud between two neighbours ended up in the magistrate’s court when lawyer Hendrik Marais and his client, Phillip Hatting, claimed damages against Jan Rabie for defamation. The magistrate ordered Rabie to pay R50 000 to Marais, and to Hatting.
Rabie turned to the Mpumalanga High Court where he appealed against the judgment.
The alleged defamation was in the form of letters written by Rabie to the police, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Legal Practice Council in which he complained about the conduct of his neighbour and the latter’s attorney.
The feud started in 2017, when Hatting moved into a property in Dullstroom, across the road from Rabie’s home. The problem was that Hatting soon brought animals into the property (cattle, sheep and horses).
Rabie told the court these animals attracted blue flies which were a nuisance. Rabie complained to the Emakhazeni Local Municipality, which told Hatting to deal with the problem.
Rabie said Hatting then threatened his (Rabie’s) wife by telling her she “should sleep well at night” and “should watch her dogs as they have a tendency to get lost or poisoned”.
About a year later, Rabie and his wife planted trees on their verge and also placed wooden poles between it and the road. Hatting apparently sawed off the poles, and was arrested for malicious damage to property. But the prosecuting authority declined to prosecute.
This aggrieved Rabie, who then wrote to the provincial police commissioner and the NPA.
A few weeks afterwards, he received a letter of demand from Marais, claiming damages for defamation. In the letter of demand, he quoted from the letters Rabie had sent to the police commissioner and the NPA and which Rabie had believed were confidential communication.
He decided to lay a complaint against Marais with the Legal Practice Council as he believed the letters had been obtained by unethical and corrupt means.
He denied that the letters were defamatory, saying they simply explained his grievances.
Acting Judge Z Gumede said the magistrate was wrong in finding that the letters were defamatory, as the statements Rabie made were privileged.
The judge upheld the appeal and set aside the damages order.
Pretoria News